(167) “And when your Lord proclaimed”—that is, made a clear declaration—“He would surely send against them, until the Day of Resurrection, those who would subject them to grievous torment”; that is, humiliate and abase them.

“Indeed, your Lord is swift in punishment” toward those who disobey Him, so much so that He hastens their punishment in this world. “Yet He is truly All-Forgiving, Most Merciful” toward those who repent and turn back to Him: He forgives their sins, conceals their faults, and shows them mercy by accepting their acts of obedience and rewarding them with all manner of rewards. Allah has indeed inflicted upon them what He threatened them with. Thus, they remain humiliated and disgraced under the rule of others: no banner of theirs is raised, nor is any standard of theirs granted victory.